Results tagged “community”

              

It was a hot day in San Francisco for hanging out on the street during the annual Park(ing) Day, which happens worldwide. Good thing there was plenty of foliage to soak up the CO2 in many of the spots, many of which were spotted downtown and in the Mission. It was duly noted that San Francisco has plenty of green spaces when you seek them out, but it's definitely refreshing to see a small oasis here and there in the middle of such urban settings.

Tomorrow is the annual Park(ing) Day, brought to you by Rebar, in which companies and individuals transform local, metered parking spots into fun and creative green spaces for the day. Look for them on your way to work in the morning or on your lunch break, and the mobile PARKcycle will also be out and about. Check out SFist's gallery of last year's Park(ing) Day.

This weekend's final Sunday Streets of the year was a big success despite the fog.

DANCE: Come learn the polka at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival's open-air dance party at Jessie Square with Big Lou’s Polka Casserole, who are devoted to reminding audiences that polka was once rock 'n roll for Eastern European immigrants and their descendants.

It's been a fun summer, with many successful Sunday Streets under our belts. This Sunday's event will be the last one of the summer and will go along the Great Highway Route, connecting Golden Gate Park via Lincoln Way to the San Francisco Zoo, along Ocean Beach. Participants can expect to find the usual endless amount of entertainment, activities, booths, tables, and general fun.

Finally, a food festival that we can afford! San Francisco Street Food Festival 2009, which is a benefit for La Cocina, is a free, day-long block party full of micro-entrepreneurs, informal food vendors, and renowned chefs bringing you delicious eats for $8 or less per item.

Wow, there's a lot of day-time events happening this weekend. We are fried from putting this all together. Time to get outside!

COMMUNITY: Celebrate the diversity of Lower Haight with an evening of live music, live painting, food, drink, merriment, and merchant discounts at the Lower Haight Art Walk.

It's another weekend with lots of fun daytime events. Here are a few big ones. Bonus: all of them are free! ALL WEEKEND Renegade Craft Fair Over 200 DIY artists from across the country and abroad will be selling their handmade goods at this second annual event. From clothing and accessories, to stationary and concert posters, with everything from bath products and ceramics in between. Fort Mason, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., free.

In an effort to combat shameless litterbugs, loyal Dolores Park-goers have organized a regular Dolores Park Clean-Up effort. The first one is happening this Sunday at 5 p.m., and volunteers are invited to enjoy drink specials at Amnesia afterwards. With the weather forecast in the 70s this weekend, we're sure there will be plenty of discarded cigarette butts and bottle caps for the volunteers to glean.

The 3- or 4-day weekend is upon us. FuncheapSF has a full list of 92 Bay Area July 4th celebrations that keeps growing. Here are a few hand-picked weekend events, in addition to the main fireworks extravaganza, Fourth of July Waterfront Celebration.

     

Last night's Lindy in the Square was a huge success. As the above photos demonstrate, folks of all ages were up there strutting their stuff. The striped-shirt fellow in the second photo, at right, gets the prize for being the most "into it." Lindy in the Square happens every fourth Wednesday of the month through September. The next one is on July 22, hosted by 9:20 Special.

                          

We hear today's Sunday Streets in the Mission was a success. Evidently lots of kids came out of the woodwork, too. The next one is July 19, also in the Mission.

People offer up everything under the sun in Craigslist's free section, including random junk like a bottle of dish-washing detergent and the saddest wheelbarrow ever (too ugly for photos, the ad says). Also available are a gutted old-person scooter that needs a new tire and battery and 2,000 photos of tourists to potentially be cut up into collage masterpieces.

ART: Peruse art and enjoy food and drink specials at dozens of venues (including free dessert at Metro Kathmandu!), as part of the Divisadero Art Walk. 6 p.m. // Divisadero Street (from Haight St to Geary Blvd) // free MUSIC: Another Hole in the Head Film Festival, which starts tomorrow night, is having an arena rock-themed Launch Party extravaganza tonight. Local band Live Evil performs as Spinal Tap! Plus The Godz of Rock and live stage versions of ‘80s hair metal videos.

Tomorrow's the 15th Annual Bike to Work Day! Cycling activists anticipate 150,000 participants tomorrow. If we had a bike and worked at an office, we would most certainly be participating. Also, if we lived west of Divisadero, we'd take that awesome Wiggle route. We hear it's the place to be.

BENEFIT: Attention Cougars! It's the 7th Annual Firefighter Bachelor Auction tonight! Proceeds will benefit the Allison Ann Ruch Burn Foundation. Ladies who win their bids will go on "very luxurious and memorable dates with their bachelors." There will be live entertainment by '80s cover band Pop Rocks.

We'll 'fess up. We haven't been to the Cow Palace since the 2005 Tattoo Expo. With that said, we're a bit torn with how to feel about the possibility of the Cow Palace being demolished. With such historical events as the Beatles playing there and John F. Kennedy speaking to the masses about starting the Peace Corp, on that hand alone, we'd hate to see this place go.

Jackie Speier runs for Congress again, after a 29-year break.

Good grief, this Chinese New Year business sure does go on for a long time. This weekend, it's a New Year Parade and a New Year Community Fair that'll be tying up traffic. A ton of major east-west lines will be affected on Saturday afternoon -- the 5, the 71, the 38, the F, the 1, and so on.

This is most exciting news, folks. The theater scene here sucks so hard now that even the San Francisco Police Department is working on the problem. Check it:

• Hal Holbrook in "Mark Twain Tonight": Julia Sugarbaker's husband and Oscar nominee for this year's Into the Wild, Broadway veteran Hal Holbrook won a Tony Award in 1966 for playing satirical American writer in this performance, and he's been doing it ever since. This one-man show draws on observations taken from Twain's own material. A real treat for admirers of American literature. The show starts tonight at 8 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; $55.
• Robyn at popscene: This Swedish "pint-sized atom bomb" import -- who sounds a whole lot like Kate Bush, and we mean that in the best way possible -- spits out bite-sized pop ballads on love, heartbreak, and the "post-adolescent condition." Oh my. Doors open at 10 p.m. at 330 Ritch; $10, $12 (18-and-over).
• Ben X (2007): An autistic teenager immerses himself in the comfy world of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (i.e., MMORPG) The film is based on Nic Balthazar's novel that was inspired by the real-life story of an autistic boy who committed suicide in part due to constant bullying. Though not the most cheery film, it is a most fascinating one nevertheless. This kicks off the 10th Annual SF Indiefest. Screens tonight at 9:15 p.m. at the Castro Theatre; $6-9.

23rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Labor and Community Breakfast this morning at the San Francisco Hilton

• Paul Auster: Sure, metafictionist Auster wrote the screenplays to Smoke, Blue in the Face, and The Brooklyn Follies, but he also penned the phenomenal collection of PoMo detective-fiction tales, The New York Trilogy, his best work to date. Auster appears live with San Francisco International Film Festival Director Graham Leggat after a screening of his latest film, for this evening.
• Françoise Hardy's Birthday Party: Bardot a Go Go presents a tribute to French singer, actress and astrologer, Françoise Hardy. The Barbary Coasters and Helene Renaut cover her songs, while DJ Brother Grimm spins tasty French pop. Doors open at 8p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $8.
• Ask a Scientist: Yes, yes, we always feature this event, but that's because a) tonight's topic is language, and b) we love it ever so. Come on down and ask this month's guest, Terry Deacon, all of your pressing questions about linguistics and language. Goes from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Axis Cafe; free.

Oh Lord. Is this for real?

-- Those rectangular glassy lofts on Folsom and Fourth Streets are, in fact, award-winning rectangular glassy lofts. Also, love the windows. [Curbed]

Cris takes some time off the Bonds case to support her lady. No one pulled out a bitch's clump of hair. That's the big news. Oh, and some other stuff happened, ahem: The Club's membership voted tonight on the February 2008 ballot and the June 2008 State Senate primary, and the endorsements are... Prop 92 (Community College Funding) - Yes Props 94 - 97 (Gaming Compacts) - No Prop A (Neighborhood Parks Bond) -...

The Examiner lavishes Gavin with praise today, just hours before his annual State of the City address. "Am I satisfied? No," Newsom tells the Examiner. "But the fact is we’re moving in the right direction." Whats' more, it seems, he's "in campaign mode." Oh, Gavin, when aren't you in campaign mode? That's what we love about you.

Destination Turk Street in the TL, our First Lady Maria Shriver is coming to town to celebrate Family Day ("a day to eat dinner with your children"), and in part for "It About WE", some sort of it-takes-a-village altruism awareness program designed "to make [charity] service fun, rewarding and accessible."